Record Number: 33601

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

It is a huge citadel, nearly a mile in length I should guess, on a low and stony ridge going east and west [...] the inscription is inside the southern gateway and tells how the governor of the fortress rebuilt the wall with stone and wood and binding (mortar), and calls it by the name of Meifa'a, which has not changed. I sat and copied and kept a running flow of conversation to hold my crowd in hand, telling them the Arabic names of the letters as I wrote them down.

Century:

1900-1945

Date:

18 Mar 1938

Country:

Yemen

Time

afternoon
daytime

Place:

city: near 'Azzan
county: Wadi Maifa'a, Shabwah
specific address: Naqb al-Hajar

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Freya Stark

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Female

Date of Birth:

31 Jan 1893

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Travel writer

Religion:

Christian

Country of Origin:

England

Country of Experience:

Yemen

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

Anon Anon

Title:

[unknown Sabaean inscription at Naqb al-Hajar]

Genre:

Unknown

Form of Text:

Unknown

Publication Details

unknown inscription at the ruins of Naqb al-Hajar

Provenance

read in situ

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Source Information:

Record ID:

33601

Source:

Print

Author:

Freya Stark

Editor:

n/a

Title:

A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen

Place of Publication:

London

Date of Publication:

1972

Vol:

n/a

Page:

262

Additional Comments:

Pagination is from the 2011 IB Tauris edition. The book was first published by John Murray in London in 1972.

Citation:

Freya Stark, A Winter in Arabia: A Journey through Yemen, (London, 1972), p. 262, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33601, accessed: 22 December 2024

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Additional Comments:

Dame Freya Madeline Stark (31 January 1893 - 9 May 1993) was a British explorer and travel writer. This reading took place at the ruined citadel of Naqb al-Hajar, in Wadi Maifa'a near 'Azzan, Shabwah Province. The inscription is in Sabaean (Himyaritic) and Stark would have had to read this out for the assembled crowd who would not have been literate in this script.